"Breath son, I need you to breath for me. Deep breaths, come on kid! I know you got it in you! Come on! – Somebody grab me a glass of water- Kenton, hold 'im up!"

Richard shuddered a gasp, his vision blurring out in sickening swirls. The room was too tight, too crowded, too bright. Somebody was gripping the sides of his face, tapping his cheeks in an attempt to keep his focus, another set of arms wrapped securely under his shaking arms. It was useless though; images assaulted his clouded brain at a pace that he was hopeless to follow. Somewhere in the very back of him mind, a fresh wave of guilt throbbed quietly, and he wanted to apologize to these people for his inevitable failure.

"Um, sir? I just.. uh- did you happen to feel his pulse? He's not having a random spell here sir. It's a panic attack. I'm pretty sure we're making it worse…sir."

Because he knew that they wanted him to fight.

"Well then shove his head between his knees- Everybody back up! Give the kid some space."

But all he wanted to do was sleep; just curl up and pass out for a little while. Exhaustion was creeping into his bones, sitting heavy as it stole his fight with ease. His eyes grew impossibly heavy, a moan escaping his lips. This was it.

All my fault.

He could see the blonde man laughing, watching Barbara hit the ground with a startled cry.

Babs…

Adrenaline drained away, leaving the teen helpless to slump into his grief.

Why her?

…

"Sir? He's out… do you want me to.. I mean we don't really have anywhere to..well I guess we could.. um-"

The older man sighed, knees popping loudly as he rose to stand. "Kenton?"

Startled green eyes flickered his way. "Yes- uh yes?sir?"

"Just shut up. We ain't got all night here. Grab the kid and carry 'im down to the Chief's office. He's got a couch in the far right corner- not great, but it's the best option we've got at this point."

The younger man nodded quickly" Right! Yes sir! I'm on it!"

Sergeant Clane sighed in exasperation, running a tired hand over his face as he watched officer Kenton struggle to move, the unconscious boy 'pinning him down' honestly couldn't weigh anything over a hundred pounds.

How this kid stumbled his way through the police academy, he would never know.

What he did know, however, was that it was almost 1:00 in the morning, and his coffee mug was running dangerously low.

With one final sigh to the pitiful scene in front of him, the sergeant spun on his heels and turned down a vacant hallway humming with florescent glow, seriously considering spiking his stale cup of caffeine.

XxXx

The lights were fading fast- Happy creams and golds molding into sickening gray's that startled Barbara out of her reluctant questioning. The switch had been gradual at first; murky tones edging softly to swirl into the sky. But now? Now it was impossible to ignore.

It was everywhere.

Barbara watched in awe as it crept its way into the lush foliage, and scrambled to her feet clumsily when it began to bleach the waxy grass under her back.

What was happening?

"Hey!" She cries, words tinged with confusion choked in her throat as she spins to face the hazel haired girl, stumbling back in horror, and fear.

The teen hadn't moved an inch, her hands still folded casually under her head. Gold eyes glowed brightly, fixed on the dark rolling clouds. The ghostly ooze of color flowed right under her lithe body, soaking into her spandex costume and drowning the shimmering fabric with greedy haste. But it didn't stop there.

Nope, it had to get weirder, of course.

The smoky liquid rolled right over top of her, sucking away the peachy pigment of her skin and stripping her hair of its shine.

She didn't so much as blink.

Barbara was floundering, unable to connect any of her thoughts into words or actions. She just stood there, dumbstruck.

The other girl frowned after a moment, finally showing a response, to the others relief, and pulled herself up off of the now brittle ground.

Her irises looked even more brilliant than before as they darted around, standing out vibrantly against her colorless face. Her lips twisted into a sudden scowl as her eyes trained down to study her outfit. She spun experimentally. No glitter.

"Gross. I hate grey." The girl sighed, her mouth quirking slightly as she turned to a fully colored and extremely confused redhead. "You look like a fish." She stated, sucking in her cheeks dramatically before skipping around her to check on her violet flower.

Barbara snapped her mouth shut, eyebrow twitching.

Mildly annoyed, the green eyed girl watched as a pale finger traced idly over one of the vibrant petals. Her arm tingled, goose bumps rising over her flesh.

The other girl took note, nodding to herself before straightening and spinning around lazily. She puckered her charcoal colored lips, and released a low whistle.

Nothing.

"Ah.." she breathed, dull ponytail swinging slightly as she shook her head. "That's our problem."

Barbara sighed loudly, hands clenching into tight fists as she snapped back to her normal senses. Interrogate.

"Okay. That's it. This has been fun and all, and was nice to be naïve for a while, but now I want to know because that was just…too different for my liking. So," she sighed heavily, meeting gold eyes and bracing herself with determination. "What is going on?"

The other girl clapped her bandaged hands together. "Okay. Lift up your shirt."

"…What?"

"Lift. Up. Your. Shirt. ? Helloooo? Anybody home?" the mono-colored girl giggled, treating Barbara as if she were an incomprehensive toddler.

Jade eyes rolled in annoyance. "Yeah, I got that. Just, why?"

Another sigh. "Not making this easy are you?" Bandaged hands reached forward, tugging the hem of Barbara's plain tee-shirt up just above her left hipbone. Barbara was once again reduced to…a fish.

"Kay. See this?" a dull finger pointed to the rainbow marking that decorated the redhead's once wounded skin.

"How could I not?!" Barbara exclaims, reaching a wary hand down to poke the colorful pattern.

The once- hazel haired girl nodded. "Right. Well, that's where you were injured, so that's where my crystal entered. That's your lifeline." She pointed to the blackened line that ran through the swirling shape. "If that disappears, we've got problems." She paused. "Anyway, in this place, you are represented as an item. Don't know why, I guess it's to keep an eye on what's goin' on down on normal land." A laugh. "You're the flower over there; see how it's still got color?" Barbara nodded, trying to absorb everything. "That's because you and 'indirect flower you' are not an actual part of this place. So any changes here don't affect you. … down in the real world… is a different story."

"So, nothing happens to me when all of this-"she gestured to their surroundings "goes down.. I don't…think I fully understand that.. If it wasn't my fault, then who's?"

The other girl's expression turned into a serious one, a new feature Barbara had yet to see.

"…That's the problem. You see, to keep an eye on things, the people most affected by your injury are represented here as well. When they're affected in reality, we see the reaction here. Whereas, since you are here, they would see a reaction from you, down there, although it would be different of course, not as dramatic…do you follow me?"

The dread was settling in thick. She followed this loud and clear.

Barbara swallowed carefully, dreading the words she was about to here.

"The reaction was so violent, and when the representation didn't come here, I just knew…"

"Robin."

xXxX

Hey! So, I think I know how these chapters are going to be set up now, just because this was a lot more entertaining to write, and I got it finished a lot quicker. There have usually been three parts to the more recent chapters, those being a view with the team, a view with Robin, and a view with Barbara and the mystery girl. I slimmed it down to two for this one, and I feel like I was able to focus better on the parts because of it. So basically, its just going to alternate. Is that okay? I hope so :)

We're past the 20 review mark! Gah! You guys are amazing!

AmaraRae- Better than awesome? Aw! Thank you so much :D

Lindz4567- Yay! Well, here's some more! Hope you liked this chapter!

Guest- Please don't apologize for long reviews! I love them! Thank you for taking the time to write it all out, and a huge thanks in general for being so nice hehe :3 I try with the suspense, but its not really my strong point you know? I just focus on keeping it non cliché and interesting haha! Hm hm hm- hopefully the next chapter will be okay, because it's going to take a slightly different turn. :)

Hi- Well hi! That is so amazing! This made a top five! Whoo! Here's an update! Take it! …was it okay? Have you ceased begging? … :3

Thank you so much guys! I love reading these reviews so much! They just literally make my entire day, and its so much fun watching your trains of thought in regards to everything going on. Keep them coming please!

Happy Saturday!

-Arrow.